Security News > 2024 > January > Court charges dev with hacking after cybersecurity issue disclosure
A German court has charged a programmer investigating an IT problem with hacking and fined them €3,000 for what it deemed was unauthorized access to external computer systems and spying on data.
The programmer examined the software and found that it established a MySQL connection with a remote server belonging to Modern Solution GmbH, the management software vendor.
After connecting to the database, it was determined that it not only contained his customer's data but also the data for nearly 700,000 of Modern Solution's other customers, constituting a significant data privacy issue.
Upon realizing that the database contained data for other companies, the programmer disconnected from the remote database and worked with a tech blogger to help notify the software vendor of the cybersecurity and privacy issue.
The programmer and tech blogger quickly disclosed the issue the same day without waiting for a comment from the management software vendor.
The programmer has decided to appeal the decision, and the case will be assigned to a higher regional court in Aachen, where the decision could assume an important role as a legal precedent.